Volunteers Needed To Expand Food Recovery Efforts

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January 31, 2013|Amanda L. Renna, Foodshare, Newington

Each week Foodshare volunteers recover thousands of pounds of perfectly edible food, deemed unsellable by local retailers. This recovered food is then delivered to a Foodshare partner within the same community, eliminating unnecessary waste and helping hundreds of local residents in need.

Linda Bridge, of the Enfield Food Shelf, says her organization has been receiving donated food from Target for almost a year. "There is no way to explain how much this has helped us out. The Foodshare volunteers do all the hard work, and we reap all the benefits! The produce, cleaning items, toiletries, grocery items and, now, the meat from Target has really helped us keep up with the demand."

Caren Dickman, of the Human Resources Agency in New Britain, agrees: "All food donationsboth perishable and non-perishablethat we receive are invaluable to the communitymuch of it is fresh, perishable food such as fruit, vegetables and bread. The fresh produce is particularly important for maintaining a nutritionally balanced diet."

Foodshare's Retail Pick Up program was launched in May 2011 with just a handful of stores and now recovers over 50,000 pounds of food every month. Paula Siebers, who coordinates the program at Foodshare, says, "Unfortunately we have more stores that would like to participate than we do trained volunteers right now. We know there is food out there that could be recovered; we just lack the people to get it done."

Wally Banzhaf is assigned to work with the Shop Rite in Canton once a week, and he speaks fondly of his volunteer service. "Volunteering for the Foodshare Retail Pick Up program has been very rewarding for me," he says, "and it doesn't take a lot of time. A few hours, once per week, and this small effort brings so much good food to those who need it."

Foodshare services all 42 towns of Hartford and Tolland Counties. If you would like to learn more about volunteer opportunities at Foodshare, please contact Edna Bailey at 860-286-9999.

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